Fogrose, back in the days with the USDA urged people to plant multiflora hedges on rural property (yes, they actually did), my Dad surrounded a two acre plot on three sides with multiflora. Several of the plants sported to a light pink. He was delighted. It's a pity that multiflora is so problematic, because we had lots of wildlife living in that hedge, including families of ringneck pheasants. But our neighboring farmer was dismayed that multiflora seedlings kept coming up in his fields, so eventually my Dad had to remove all the plants. It was a huge job. ( Hmm, I remember thinking he was too old for that kind of manual labor, but I work just as hard and now I am about the same age he was when he did that task.) He removed all several hundred plants except, that is, for his favorite pink one, which to my dismay he stubbornly insisted on keeping. And this was in the days before we knew to worry about RRD and the multiflora connection. Folly

This was the thread that helped me put a name to the style of garden that I love best. I have been working towards the cottage style for many years and never get tired of the evolution of it. Loved reading them all again today. Cheryl

Yes Floral_uk is right. Could be the South for example which requires a completely different strategy. If I sowed seed where I lived I would battle to get any flowers at all as they only flower in their second season. So you need to start seedlings the year before plant them out Autumn then they will flower in Spring early summer the following year. As we don't have a suitable cool enough summer to start them off I could only sow in winter and they would die when Spring arrived because of the heat and humidity. If I had a cool green house with fans, air-con and a mister I could of course but thats an awful lot of trouble for what is an annual bedding plant in our "zone". So Im lucky the Dutch do it for me. I tried foxgloves (grown in Japan) for the first time this year but they appeared on the market too late to work, only now sending up miserable flower spikes which is too late. Foxgloves have the same growth, "biannual" as Campanula medium. If that helps you Amanda. They don't live much beyond two years but in suitable climates will happily self seed. I just thought I should say that this year we had quite a stable cool dry winter season and I've had Campanula medium, the same plants I bought in bud last year in early December "Autumn" flowering and performing stunningly well for more than four months! They very slowly open their buds, keeping the open flowers for ages and ages in mint condition, well well after all the buds have opened. Winter is our dry season so watering is required, not excessively, just to keep moist. I think the lack of rain actually is a big plus for the longevity of the flowers and the fact I planted in shady conditions. Our humidity is never much bellow 60% even in the dry season. We are in our fifth month and the temps have gone into 26-28%C, this week 30-31%C with 80-90% humidity and still there are flowers! It's truly remarkable. Much smaller flowers but the plants haven't wilted yet. Sure they will and very soon, though. What I did after three months and a half of solid performance was remove all the spent flowers that had partially formed green leafy seed capsules, this made them produce many smaller new buds, the ones still flowering now. I would love to get the crisp white ones next year but I haven't seen them here at all. Maybe "Bells of Holland" the shorter variety only come in pink and purple. Highly recommended as a winter annual or bedding plant in sub-tropical climates if you can buy them already established, in full bud. Choose the plants where the buds are not open, just a sprinkle of the larger top buds open. Our temps don't fall much bellow 10- 15% in winter and not much higher than 20-23 %C so for Canterbury bells it's like one long mild late Spring early summer. For Southern gardens in the USA including parts of Florida, right up to Miami with no frost, winter is the time to enjoy! Plant producers and buyers for retail take note. They outperform even things like busy tizzies and bedding begonias. I planted in the shade with only an hour or so of passing sun a day.

The easiest plants I've used are day lilies, reblooming irises and pelargoniums. One plant that isn't considered ornamental is marjoram, which grows into a big, fluffy bush with tiny white flowers that the bees absolutely love and which last for many months. It springs up in various places by itself, much to my delight. I would never be without it. I started my first one from a tiny herb pot from the nursery which was dried out and half dead, and it grew like gangbusters. Lavenders are great if you go easier on the water and have reasonably fast-draining soil.